`Abdullah Ibn `Umar (radiyallahu anhu) said: "The life of
this
world is Paradise for a disbeliever and a prison for a
believer.
When a believer dies and departs from this world, he feels
himself like a prisoner who was released to go freely on the
spacious earth."
O people! The arrows of death are pointed towards your
chests,
so keep your eyes on them. The trap of hope is set in front
of
you, so beware of it. The trials of the life of this world
have
encircled you, so avoid failure in them. Don't be misled by
your
good condition because it will vanish.
Whoever thinks well of the outcome of this life, takes the
precautions, and whoever is certain about the long way he has
to travel, makes the preparation for that.
O people! We have spent a long time in the amusements of this
life, and our sins have accumulated on each other.
Dear brother/sister, where is our place in comparison to
these
people?
Narrated Anas Ibn `Ayyad (radiyallahu anhu): I saw Safwan
Ibn Salim, and had it been said to him: "Tomorrow is the Day
of Resurrection, he would have not needed to perform an
additional act of worship."
How amazing our situation is... This life is leaving us and
the
Hereafter is coming towards us, but we keep ourselves busy
with the one that is leaving and turn away from that which is
coming, as if we are not going to arrive and settle therein.
`Umar Ibn Abdul `Aziz said in a sermon: "The life of this
world
is not your permanent dwelling because Allah has decreed that
it should perish and that all its dwellers should leave it.
How
many a populated area that will soon come to ruins, and how
many a happy resident who will soon leave his residence. You
should therefore leave this world in the best way you can,
and
the best of provisions is piety. Since the life of this world
is
neither a home nor an abode for the believer, he should be in
it, either a stranger whose objective is to take the required
provisions and return home, or a traveller who is residing
nowhere and who is proceeding day and night to reach a
country of residence.
The people are wrestling for the
worldly pleasures, some loose
their religion, others forget their children, hatred becomes
common and rancour is sown between them.
A poet said: "Man should take the minimum possible of the
worldly pleasures, because he is leaving for a fixed
appointment; turn his eyes away from this life and its
ornaments, make all the efforts to keep away from its lusts,
because it is a place of temporary pleasures and trials, and
all
the people in it will perish."
To remind us of our destination, Bill Ibn Sa'ad said: "O
people!
You are not created so as to perish, but you will be shifted
from
one house to another, as you have been shifted from the back
bone to the mother's womb and from there to life, then to
graves, and from graves to Resurrection and in the end to
eternity either in Paradise or in Hell."
Al-Hasan said: "Beware of the diversions of this world, which
are many. If a man opens a door for diversions, then that
door
may open ten others."
Ibn As-Sammak said: "Whoever tastes the sweetness of the life
in this world for his inclination towards it, will also taste
the
bitterness of the Hereafter for turning away from it."
Dear brother/sister,
It is important to know that what Allah wills becomes a
reality
and what he does not will never take place. Be certain that
good deeds are a grace from Allah for which you have to thank
Him and invoke Him not to interrupt them, and that evil deeds
are of his punishment, so you should pray to Him to protect
you
from them, and not to abandon you to yourself in respect of
performing good deeds and avoiding evil ones.
Ibrahim Ibn Ad-ham was asked: "How are you?" He said: "We
patch the life of this world by tearing from our religion, so
neither our religion remains nor what we patch. Blessed is he
who prefers Allah, his Rabb (Lord) and renounces the life of
this
world for what he expects as reward in the Hereafter."
The signs of the love shown for the life of this world are:
Love
of its people, favoritism, flattery. Sufyan Ath-Thawri said:
"Man's love for the life of this world is shown in the way he
greets people."
Look at a chaste poor man... nobody talks to him. People
greet
him so warily as if fearing that he may pass poverty to them.
But see how the people welcome a rich man, even if he does
not perform prayer. They stand up with smiling faces, and
each
one hopes to greet him first. Note the difference between a
man who is so great as seen by Allah and another who does not
even weigh a mosquito's wing - but this is life.
Abdullah Ibn `Aun said: "Those before us used to consecrate
for the life of this world the surplus of their needs for the
Hereafter, and you consecrate for the Hereafter the surplus
of
your needs in the life of this world."
O brother/sister in Islam,
Life is very short, and the richest person therein is poor.
You
have to wake up from this long sleep and to renounce the love
of this life. One day this life will have an end and the
Hereafter
will come forward. What is once remote will become so close.
What you used to see in others, people will see in you, a
sudden death - or even in your good health you may be taken
from your bed to the grave. These are lessons following one
another, but we are heedless and lost in error.
Abu Hazim said: "Whoever knows the life of this world feels
neither happiness in prosperity nor sorrow in affliction."
'Ali Ibn Abi Talib (radiyallahu anhu) said: "Whoever has the
following six characteristics does all that is required to
make
him enter Paradise and avoid Hell: to know Allah (M) and obey
him, to know Satan and disobey him, to know the truth and
follow it, to know falsehood and avoid it, to know the life
of this
world and renounce it and to know the Hereafter and seek it."
Ibn `Ayyad said: "Coming to this life is so easy whereas
departing from it is so difficult. Death is a very critical
moment
during which the soul is uprooted. But even if leaving the
life of
this world is easy, earning for material pleasures and
worldly
benefits cause distraction, concern and restlessness."
Dear brother/sister,
Be of the children of the Hereafter, and not of the children
of
this world. The child follows the mother, and the life of
this
world does not deserve moving a foot towards it, so why do
you run after it?